Coffee
by MadHatter10by6
Summary: A rose/scorpius oneshot! As Scorpius struggles with a Muggle coffee pot, Lily pays him a surprise visit one morning, demanding why her cousin suddenly has no time for her.


_Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing in this story. JK Rowling owns all. I'm just a loyal fan humbly imagining what some of her characters might do._

Enjoy!

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Steeling his nerves and trying not to flinch, twenty-three year old Scorpius Malfoy carefully measured out one more tablespoon of ground coffee before overturning it into the coffee pot. He finally closed the lid and flipped the machine on. Breathing a sigh of relief, he watched with immense fascination as the device jumped to life, making odd bubbling and dripping sounds.

He frowned. It had taken him almost two straight weeks before he was able to operate this Muggle device without either making a mess or accidentally burning something. But he had kept at it, meticulously studying the instruction booklet and even consulting a few of his former schoolmates' Muggle Studies textbooks. He reasoned that, being a Ravenclaw during his time at Hogwarts, that persistence and analysis still came naturally to him, even after his graduation six years ago. He was silently appreciative that his friends had surprised him with such a gift for his birthday some years prior. Even if it was meant to be a joke.

He looked around his flat. It was reasonably clean and tidy for a bachelor. The sofa cushions could have used a little fluffing and there were some magazines unorganized on the coffee table, but he preferred to have his home appear "lived in." His attire fit his surroundings, being clothed in some long-faded jeans and a T-shirt he'd had since fifth year.

Sighing, he stole a glance at the clock. It was only ten minutes until nine in the morning. Being a Saturday morning, it was one of those rare moments when Scorpius didn't have to be in some mad dash to his job at the Ministry of Magic. His parents were off on their anniversary vacation to Africa, so he didn't have to worry about meeting them on time for one of their catching up sessions at a café (although Scorpius thought "interrogations" was a far more accurate term).

Grabbing a mug from the cabinet, Scorpius was almost startled into dropping it when a light knocking came from the living room. Grumbling under his breath, he strode out of the kitchenette and, smoothing his hair to ensure he was still somewhat presentable, cautiously opened the door.

Standing in the hall, arms crossed and head held high, was the unmistakable form of Lily Potter. It took every ounce of Scorpius' willpower to not groan and roll his eyes. Although he had known Lily for years, he had never liked her. She had always struck him as highly opinionated, bossy, and distrustful of the young man. However, Scorpius accepted that the memories of the war were far more vivid in some minds than others, and thus some tolerance of others' judgements might be wise. Being a Ravenclaw like Scorpius, he had always tried to be tolerant of Lily out of respect for his housemates. Whether they did the same or not was anyone's guess.

Plastering on the patented Malfoy unctuous smile and standing up straight, Scorpius idly twisted the doorknob to the left and right. "Lily," he drawled with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. "What a nice surprise."

"Stuff it, Malfoy," she snapped before marching into his flat.

Scorpius' stomach tightened a bit. He hadn't expected her to enter without proper invitation.

"Won't you come in?" he muttered before closing the door.

Lily scanned the flat intently, as if hoping to find something crucial. Unable to see anything beyond a few magazines and a "Most Valuable Quidditch Players" calender, she settled on the sight of a half-brewed pot of coffee.

"What is that?" she asked in a whisper. She turned to face Scorpius, a look of confusion and contempt addling her otherwise maidenly face. "A Muggle coffee pot? God, Scorpius, you get weirder every year."

"Uh-huh," Scorpius responded flatly, glancing at the clock. "Lily, what do you want? I have a busy day ahead of me, and-"

"Oh, right," she quipped. "A Saturday couldn't be that booked when you're dressed like that. I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here, I'm sure."

"Hard to take that seriously, as you are standing in my living room."

"Rose."

That one simple word hit Scorpius like a bolt of lightning. He swallowed and tugged on his T-shirt. "W-... What about her?"

"Don't even," Lily commanded. "Don't you dare try to play innocent with me, you miserable toad. She was supposed to meet up with me last night in Diagon Alley, but she never showed!"

Scorpius didn't respond, but drummed his fingers on the counter top.

"I felt like a bloody _fool_ standing there waiting for her!" she went on, her nostrils flaring dangerously.

"Perhaps she was just late," Scorpius suggested. "She had a habit of that in school. It's common among Hufflepuffs, you know."

"I waited twenty minutes! She's never that late! Last I heard, she said she was meeting with you to discuss some ridiculous issue for the Ministry."

"Do you mean the proposal I'm spearheading to mandate harsher punishments for illegal chimera egg trading?"

"Well... yes!" Lily said. "She said she was meeting you for no more than an hour. What happened? And don't feed me any rubbish!"

"Well," Scorpius began after a short pause. "We met for tea, discussed what we would say at the next meeting, she helpfully corrected me with a few facts that I had unfortunately misconstrued, something that is apparently predominant in her family tree" (Lily gaped) "We said our goodbyes, and that was it."

Lily shifted her glare from one of Scorpius' eyes to the other, looking for anything that might betray his seemingly reasonable explanation. "What time did this happen?"

"Oh, we met at about six, and I think it lasted until seven-thirty," he mused. "She did mention something about meeting you, but she also said she had some other errands to run, so perhaps she got caught up-"

"Enough!" Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "You listen to me. I know you two were competitive in school, and I know you became friends in fifth year... still not sure how _that_ happened..."

Scorpius shrugged. He wasn't too sure how that happened, either. Their rivalry seemed to begin before they were even sorted. They would always try to outdo the other, even at the cost of their own social lives. Finally, one offhanded remark she had made about the state of his Herbology project led to the both of them having the occasional study session. Then more study sessions. Then Hogsmeade weekends. It was quite the buzz around school, when a Weasley and a Malfoy became friends.

"But I know my cousin," Lily went on. "And I know when she's hiding something. That's _three_ of our movie nights she's missed in the past two months. I think you did something to her. Or, you're trying to sabotage her at work to make yourself look good. Maybe some of our professors think you're a better version of our predecessors, but I know better! I knew you'd try to undermine her at the Ministry somehow... I swear to God, if you're threatening or blackmailing her-"

"Lily," Scorpius interrupted, not wanting to endure anymore of this. "You listen to me!"

Lily once again crossed her arms and glared.

"I'm sorry for what my surname represents to you," he began. It helped that he was a good six inches taller than his loudmouth adversary. "I really am. But I'm not going to have you spew those ridiculous accusations at me. Especially not in my own home! I've never cheated in any capacity at school or work. I've earned everything I have today with little to no help from anyone else! I'm sorry that Rose didn't show up for your little tête-à-tête, but I'm not to blame. I don't know where she went to, and I think you're so paranoid that you're desperately trying to throw blame for your own disappointments onto everyone and anyone! Has it ever occurred to you that you're not the best company? Hmm?"

Lily slowly let her gaze sink to the carpeted floor.

"I respect Rose very much. She was one of the few friends I actually had at that school, and I would never try to hurt her in any way. I am not against her at the Ministry, and our relationship is nothing more than plain, simple, platonic friends," he summarized.

Endless minutes seemed to pass. Finally, Lily looked up at Scorpius with an oddly soft look in her eyes. "I... I'm sorry," she breathed. "You're right... I am being ridiculous... maybe I shouldn't have come..."

"Goodbye, Lily," he replied, opening the door for her. "I'll see you around town, I'm sure."

"Right..." said Lily, making her way to the door. She was almost out into the hallway when-

"Found my bra!"

The loud, familiar voice echoed from the hallway of Scorpius' flat and rooted Lily to the spot. Her eyes doubled in size and she breathed in sharply. Scorpius, for his part, suddenly gripped the doorknob so tightly he seemed apt to break it off. He felt his heart skip a beat and a rush of adrenaline as he had never known before. "I..." he tried lamely.

Lily whipped around just in time to see the tall, lanky form of her cousin Rose emerge from the other side of the flat. She was clad only in a T-shirt that Lily was fairly certain belonged to Scorpius. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes with one arm, a black lace bra still loosely clutched in her other hand.

"It was on the ceiling fan, of all places..." she mumbled sleepily. However, upon catching the sight of her livid cousin, Rose immediately snapped to attention, stood up straight, and tried her best to smooth her bird's nest hair. "Oh! Lily! I... we..." she started, glancing between a furiously blushing Scorpius and the now-brewed coffee.

"I... what are you doing here?!" she screamed.

Lily gave a few deep breaths as she worked on something to say. "Realizing what a fool I've been," she ground out as she gave one last death glare at Scorpius. Storming out of the flat, she slammed the door with such force that the windows rattled for a good seven seconds afterward.

Neither of the remaining occupants spoke for a moment, each one pondering this latest development independently.

"Oh, no... oh, dear..." Rose breathed, one hand clutched to her head.

"Hey, it's all right, Rose," Scorpius said reassuringly as he quickly walked over to her, wrapped an arm around her and drew her close. "It was bound to come out eventually. I mean, we've been seeing each other for almost a year, now..."

"I know..." she said as she buried her head into his neck. "But I didn't want anyone from my family to find out this way... I was hoping we could just sit down with them and let it out carefully."

"Me too, but... well, at least it's out in the open, now." He kissed her neck. "No more hiding."

"By this time tomorrow, everyone will know. My family, your family... can we do this? I mean, can we take our relationship public, what with all the history, all the drama, all the lingering hatred over the war?"

"Yes," said Scorpius after a moment of thought. "We can because we love each other, and when it comes down to it, that's all any two people need. With that, nothing is impossible. They can face the world and all its dangers."

She looked up at his cool blue eyes and melted. Pulling him into a tongue-entwined, passionate kiss, she took his hand in hers and giggled.

"Come on Rosie," Scorpius said, giving her hand a squeeze. "I made coffee."

The End

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